Federal authorities seek to seize used car lot

They say it operated as a drug front at Greenwood Drive and Baldwin Boulevard

CORPUS CHRISTI - Federal authorities want to seize a used car lot they claim operated as a drug front at Greenwood Drive and Baldwin Boulevard.

The federal forfeiture lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, seeks to seize Mario's Used Car and Detail, 2810 Baldwin Blvd.

The suit claims owner Angel Mario Gonzalez was part of a large-scale drug trafficking network and used the business to launder money.

"I'm very skeptical how they would establish that," Gonzalez's attorney Scott Ellison said. "I don't know how they would prove that in any way."

He said he had not reviewed the lawsuit.

The suit claims that Gonzalez arranged to sell 20 kilos of cocaine to an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent at his car lot in December.

During their negotiations, the suit says Gonzalez told the agent he planned to pick up cocaine and used cars in Atlanta, place the cars on a hauler and transport money and drugs back to Corpus Christi.

The agent met Gonzalez again at a hotel on Leopard Street in mid-December and bought 1 kilo of cocaine from him for $24,000, the suit says.

He and two other men, Charles Amrbose Chavana and George Jacob Puebla, were arrested by federal agents Jan. 20, the day the three men met undercover agents at another hotel to make the final $470,000 sale, according to court documents.

They were charged with possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it.

After his arrest, Gonzalez told federal agents he used his business to launder money, according to the suit.

A man who answered the phone at the car lot said he didn't know about the forfeiture suit.

Gonzalez is being held without bond at the federal detention facility in Robstown, Ellison said.